Barack Obama Just Went After The Wealthy Libertarian Koch Brothers On His Twitter Account

Barack Obama's twitter account sent out a message late
tonight urging his supporters to
put pressure on Charles and David Koch–the wealthy
libertarian businessmen–to disclose the list of contributors to
Americans for Prosperity, their main vehicle for political
activism.

Americans for Prosperity is like many political groups on the
left and the right; able to accept private and anonymous
donations. They aren't doing anything illegal, but for political
reasons the Obama's team, and now Obama himself, are pressuring
them to do something they aren't obligated to do.

"It is an abuse of the President’s position and does a
disservice to our nation for the President and his campaign to
criticize private citizens simply for the act of engaging in
their constitutional right of free speech. The implication in
that sort of attack is obvious: dare to criticize the President’s
policies and you will be singled out and personally maligned by
the President and his campaign in an effort to chill free speech
and squelch dissent.”

There is no campaign in the country that believes more in
the active participation of Americans in the electoral process
than this one. When you attempt to drown out their voices through
unlimited, secret contributions to pursue a special-interest
agenda that conflicts with what's best for our nation, you must
expect some scrutiny of your actions.

But tonight's tweet, sent out to over 12 million
"followers" really changes the complexion of things. There aren't
exactly rules for this sort of politics, but it does seem odd to
have the nation's chief executive exerting this kind of pressure
on law-abiding (if very wealthy) citizens who disagree with
him.

It should be noted that the Koch brothers are generally
libertarian in their outlook, they are pro-gay marriage for
instance. They also give lots of money to the arts and other
non-political causes. But they have become
a lightning rod and make for good copy in fundraising
material for liberals and Democrats - much the same way George
Soros' name scares the money out of conservative wallets.

[Full disclosure: the Koch brothers have donated money to two
groups that have paid me in the past. The first is America's
Future Foundation, for whom I wrote one paid article. I also did
unpaid speaking at some of their events. Second, the Philips
Foundation which awarded me a journalism fellowship in 2009 -
though, to avoid conflicts of interest, I have never investigated
whether the Kochs donated during the years I was
paid.]